If a 200-pound man were sitting on one end of a seesaw, and a 25-pound child was sitting on the other end, which would go up in the air, the man or the child? Our first thought is the child, of course. If, however, the man is sitting one foot from the fulcrum and the child is sitting ten feet from the fulcrum, the man would go up into the air. Such is the power of “leverage.”
Consider this: if the devil and a lowly human being got into a wrestling match, who would win? Our first thought is the devil. If, however, the lowly human invites Jesus into the match, who would win? We forget sometimes the kind of spiritual “leverage” available to us. With Jesus on our side, our prayer can defeat the Evil One as well as move the mountains that we face in our lives.
Today we see how this principle worked in the life of the Israelites. As they stood powerless on the side of the Red Sea, they saw the Egyptian army advance on them. They didn’t stand a chance to survive; at least they thought they didn’t, until God took action (Exodus 14:21-15:1).
“Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided, the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.”
What power Moses had! He wasn’t the one who called up the powerful east wind; all he did was obey God and stretch out his hand. God took it from there. Not only did God dry up the sea but he also cast just one glance and threw the whole Egyptian army into a panic.
“…just before the dawn the Lord cast…a glance that threw (the Egyptian army) into a panic; and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
Imagine Moses’ power. Just by stretching out his hand, he called God into action. And with one glance from God, the Egyptians panicked and retreated.
“Then the Lord told Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand” over the sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians…So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea…it covered the chariots and charioteers of Pharaoh’s whole army…”
A second time, at God’s command, Moses stretched out his hand and the sea closed up on the Egyptian army and drown them.
An army that had the power to swallow Israel alive was itself swallowed alive by the action of God. Little Moses and almighty God were the victors.
What puzzles us is why God involved Moses in this battle. Did Moses have that much power by just stretching out his hand? God didn’t need Moses, but he partnered with Moses in one of the most amazing conquests ever know to man. It is God’s way to involve his chosen ones in his work. He chooses to partner with his people.
Now let’s turn to us. We, also, are chosen ones. We, like Moses, are also weak when dealing with obstacles of life. Yet, when, we stretch out our hands in prayer and call upon the name of Jesus, no army in the world can defeat us. Imagine the leverage we have in prayer. Jesus told us that anything we ask the Father in His name will be granted us. And all we do is “stretch out our hands” in prayer. Jesus, the new Moses, lives inside us.
Intercessory prayer is the great power, we as believers in Jesus, have. Do we pray with the kind of faith that Moses had? Do we take Jesus at his word, when he said, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened unto you?”
We are watching forces of evil come upon the world, in the way Israel watched the advance of the Egyptian army. Do we recoil in fear the way the Israelites did, or do we approach the Red Sea with confidence and stretch out our hands in prayer? Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, is on our side; do we bother to invite him into the battle?
Let us never tire of stretching out our hands.
“…horse and rider, he has cast into the sea” (Exodus 15:1).
